Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed that the leaders of Russia, Germany and France at a meeting in Moscow on Friday will discuss steps for ending the civil war in Ukraine as soon as possible

French President Francois Hollande

PARIS, February 5. /TASS/. The main aim of peaceful initiatives that French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel intend to propose during their visits to Kiev on Thursday and Moscow on Friday, is to work out a new agreement on the Ukrainian conflict settlement, the French leader told a news conference.

"Together with Angela Merkel we have decided to take a new initiative," Hollande told the news conference in Paris. "Later today in the afternoon we will depart for Kiev, where we will make a new proposal on the conflict settlement basing on the territorial integrity of Ukraine."

The French president said that he and Merkel intended to discuss their new initiative with Ukrainian President Poroshenko.

"Then, on Friday, we will discuss the initiative with the Russian president in Moscow, since we are short of time," Hollande said.

"We are now having war in Ukraine and it can turn into a total one," the French president said. "This is why we jointly with Angela Merkel decided to put forward this initiative with the aim of not simply hold talks, but to agree on the text [of the agreement], which will be acceptable to all parties. This is why we first go to Kiev and then to [Russian President] Vladimir Putin."

Hollande said if such compromise was reached all parties involved in the negotiating process would "manage to avert the further escalation of the conflict."

"If we fail, and such scenario is possible, we can say that France and Germany as friends of Ukraine and Russia did everything they could to help as two world powers," the French leader said.

The German government said in its statement on Thursday said "in light of the recent escalation of violence [in Ukraine], the federal chancellor and President Hollande are stepping up their months-long efforts to finad a peaceful resolution of the conflict in Ukraine’s east."

The French leader also said that France was against Ukraine’s joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

Kremlin confirms Putin, Merkel, Hollande to hold Moscow talks to end civil war in Ukraine

"I confirm that in fact the negotiations of Putin, Merkel and Hollande are planned for tomorrow," Peskov said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande are to discuss particular measures of the three countries to "contribute to the speedy end of civil war in southeastern Ukraine which has significantly deteriorated in the recent days, what leads to multiple casualties," Peskov said.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed that the leaders of Russia, Germany and France at a meeting in Moscow on Friday will discuss steps for ending the civil war in Ukraine as soon as possible.